At Least It's Not a Pony

We have received reports—scattered at first, but growing in frequency—that backers have begun getting their magnets in the mail. Should this prove true, I can only say that no one is more surprised than I am that we managed to get them into people's hands on time.

This week, we received the 8" x 10" art prints that some of you are getting, and they look great. Here's a sorta-blurry picture of one now:

According to the package tracking oracle that lives in the computer, the embroidered patches arrived in Houston yesterday as well, though I do not have photographic confirmation of that yet. If they're not there already, they will be very soon, which means that the $15 "patch-and-a-magnet" packages will start mailing this week. After those have shipped, all other packages are waiting on the coloring book or the Sticky Shticks (or both). Here's where the Workometer stands:

You'll notice that I've begun work in earnest on the Monster Minis document (at least the Spring edition; the other three seasons that have been promised will get added to the Workometer later). This first installment is shaping up to be include a lot of orcs, fey, goblins (Small, not Medium), animals (dire and regular), druids, and rangers, plus a bunch of other random monsters like an owlbear and a hippogriff. To further whet your appetite, I give you a sneak preview of the art for one of the most tenacious and difficult monsters in the game...the pack mule!

Hey, don't laugh. The number of sessions where I needed a mini for a pack mule (and didn't have one) is far greater than the number of sessions where I needed a mini for a dragon.

Five Things I've Done Since My Last Update:

Reviewed and approved physical proofs of the coloring book.

Reviewed and approved digital proofs of the updated copyright pages for the reprints.

Printed, cut out, and assembled paper mock-ups of the various monster sizes (Tiny through Large) for the miniatures to make sure they stood up properly using regular paper. (I still need to try Huge and Gargantuan.)

Picked up the holiday ornaments for the signed ornament reward packages.

Started contacting backers who forgot to include money for international shipping in their pledge. This is a big list, though, so if you know you're on it, please be patient and wait for me to contact you.

Have a nice week, everyone, and I'll see you back here when something new has happened.

Oh I'm a confirmed backer; got my magnet holding up an awesome chili recipe. I had every intention of backing for more; I'd have love to had gotten some of the books by backing, but life happened, and all that.

I have a question about the print, I glanced through the comments and didn't see anyone ask this yet. Is the actual print area (ink) 8x10 or is the paper 8x10 with a white border, thus making the print (ink) area smaller than 8x10? I only ask since I mean to find a good frame & matte (of proper size) for it before it ships, so I am ready to go.

I got my magnet. Just in time to decorate my new fridge. Which has only 1 other magnet. And he's guarding my work schedule instead of the grocery list. But it's not like I ordered a custom Magnet right?
By the way. I am please with my new guard magnet and would recommend it to anyone who needs a guard to protect any refrigerator papers (including but not limited to, Newspaper clippings, children (or parents) art, To do list, other list, etc.)

I actually can't wait to try out the game, myself. I ordered the $115 pack (and tacked on another $75 for books!) just so I could get the game. :) But, like Celine said, the waiting is murder. Worth it in the end, though!

Yeah.I'm sitting down to play OOTS in a little while (I have the expansion, but with new players, I think we won't have anyone wandering;) and am looking forward to the Sticky Sticks... But my mind it kicking me over the fact that my _books_ have to wait on them :p

Rich: "There will be no clues about the final Mystery Prize until it is ready. It is just THAT mysterious."
Hmm.... that's a clue (albeit a trivial one). The Mystery Prize is not something which is ready at this point in time. We've eliminated a whole bunch of things from the universe of possible Mystery Prize things. :-)

@HerrTog: Horses, ponies, and other common mounts will be included. Children, I hadn't thought of...maybe in one of the other three packs, I'll put a sheet of "villagers" that will include some.
@Everyone: There will be no clues about the final Mystery Prize until it is ready. It is just THAT mysterious.

I think seeing that mule was when I had to truly acknowlege Rich's artistic talent. I love OotS, and I love the stick-figure art (which is brilliant), but for me (working with equines as my everyday job) that mule captured the essence of 'muleness'. I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the minis!

I got my magnet quite some time ago, International shipping to a small country in EU, so I'm surprised they started arriving only recently. I would like to thank Giant for it, it is much bigger than I expected and looks very nice on my fridge :)

@BillD4 -
"You'll note that there are no labels on each line describing exactly what every section represents, and that's on purpose. It's different for every item, but suffice to say that the red dot is the initial "concept" solidifying in my mind, the yellow is the planning or ordering, and the green is the production (whether by me in the form of comic pages or by a printer)." <--- There you go.

The print looks epic! Kind of a shame I snagged a patience-signed one so I have to wait till December for it. :(

I have a humble suggestion... could you please add a legend to the work-o-meter? I always forget exactly what field is what, and have to go back through the updates to find out what all the shapes and colors mean. Thank you very much!